There are inconceivable horrors throughout history that most of us can only imagine. Humankind can be cruel, hateful, and lead the ignorant to very dark places.

Like many of you, I have read books, seen films, and heard the testimony of survivors from the Holocaust and other modern day genocides in Rwanda, Cambodia, and Armenia. These include stories from my late mother and father-in-law about the demise of their entire families in Eastern Europe.

In this vein, I am honored to chair the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission (THGAAC). It is a long name for a state agency whose mission is to take the lessons of the Holocaust and other genocides and, in turn, combat antisemitism and all forms of hate across Texas.

We are a small but mighty commission. Nonpartisan and diverse with respect to racial, ethnic, and religious makeup, our commissioners include a reflective and sensitive survivor of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda, a thoughtful and kind Holocaust survivor, a brilliant rabbi, two successful and incredibly generous business and philanthropic leaders, a force of nature and natural leader of the largest Christian group supporting Israel in the world, and myself. We are blessed to have a dedicated professional staff led by our outstanding executive director, Joy Nathan.

It was more than ten years ago when the Texas Legislature, led by then-state Sen. Florence Shapiro, recognized the need to teach the history of the Holocaust and other genocides to students and all Texans so they could more forcefully stand up for human rights. To accomplish this, lawmakers created the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission.

Two years ago, “antisemitism” was added to the name and mission thanks to Rep. Craig Goldman and Sen. Phil King. Our friend and partner in this fight, Gov. Greg Abbott, signed the THGAAC into law. The same legislation also recognized the universally accepted working definition of antisemitism (also known as Jew- or Israel hatred) as written in Bucharest, Romania, in 2016 by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). This definition begins: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews…” This definition has also recently been adopted by the cities of El Paso and Dallas.

The THGAAC was empowered to lead statewide K-12 education efforts each January for Holocaust Remembrance Week and International Holocaust Remembrance Day. We were also mandated to create a study on antisemitism in Texas in even-numbered years.  We completed the first-ever such study last year, and it is available on our website. Among the study’s recommendations are at least two currently being considered in the Texas legislative session. These include a prohibition against state-funded universities boycotting Israel and other nations and increased security funding for Texas nonprofits to protect themselves against hate groups or individuals.

The THGAAC is grateful to partner with organizations with similar missions across the state. These include Texas’s four Holocaust museums, the Texas Education Agency (TEA), many churches and synagogues, schools, the American Jewish Committee (AJC), and our advising state partner agency, the Texas Historical Commission (THC), among others. We are also appreciative of the many Texas legislators and Gov. Abbott’s office, who understand and frequently advocate for our goals and initiatives.

Please consider the THGAAC a resource and partner in our attempt to eradicate hateful minds and acts in Texas, the United States, and throughout our fragile world. Let’s imagine a world free of hate, indifference, and intolerance.

-Kenneth Goldberg, THGAAC Chair

Rabbi Ilan S. Emanuel will tell you that his accent is a mix of the various places in which he has had the pleasure of living. He received a degree in law from the University of Manchester and the University of Westminster, and then received his Rabbinic Ordination from the Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati, Ohio. Currently, Rabbi Emanuel serves the Jewish community of Corpus Christi at Congregation Beth Israel.

The core of Rabbi Emanuel’s rabbinate is the conviction that Judaism is the deepest and most comprehensive body of spiritual and ethical wisdom, saying, “I seek to communicate my own enthusiasm for Judaism with others so that they may be as energized and uplifted by Jewish tradition as I have been throughout my life.”

Rabbi Emanuel was first appointed to the THGAAC’s predecessor, the Texas Holocaust and Genocide Commission, on March 5, 2019. When the THGC transitioned into the THGAAC, Gov. Greg Abbott renewed Emanuel’s appointment on January 6, 2022. As he begins a new rabbinate in Syracuse, NY later this year, we thank him for his service and for his commitment to Holocaust, genocide, and antisemitism awareness and education.